Junctions of main distribution lines of the telecommunications utility to service lines for individual customer sites are known in which terminals permit electrical connections of the lines to be made in the field, and a plurality of such terminals are mounted within a common enclosure for a plurality of such service lines. Such enclosures must not only be rugged and durable to provide general physical protection of the terminals and junctions but also must provide for protecting the junctions against moisture and against insects and animals especially at cable openings.
Specifications for such enclosures are proposed in Bellcore Technical Advisory TA-NWT-000014, Issue 3, November 1990, "Generic Requirements of Aerial Cable Terminals", issued by Bell Communications Research, Inc. Such requirements are directed toward protection of electrical connections between main distribution cables and service lines for long in-service use against all environmental effects commonly encountered, including precipitation, temperature extremes, corrosion, dust, debris, ultraviolet light, insects, rodents, reptiles and birds and so forth. Such enclosures must permit access for repair and servicing through use of relatively simple tools in procedures which are relatively not skill sensitive, and resist damage and tampering. Also such enclosures must themselves present no environmental or safety hazard.
Enclosures are commercially available, such as from Reliable Electric/Utility Products, Franklin Park, Ill. such as Wall/Pole mount closures having front covers which are hingedly mounted to the cabinet or rear panel, and in which the cable openings are individually grommeted. Raychem Corporation Telecommunications Division of Fuquay-Varina, NC provides a DTerminator PMT (trademark) in which the front cover is vertically slidable for access to the interior, wherein the front cover includes flanges along side edges thereof doubly-bent to define inwardly facing channels to receive side edges of the rear wall therein, with the front cover remaining attached to the rear panel after opening; the side edges of the rear wall include arrays of slots for cable openings, and a strip of molded elastomeric material is secured along and inwardly from each of the slotted side edges, with discrete sections extending through each slot and having cross-shaped perforated diaphragms for sealing the cable openings around the cables inserted therethrough.